Are You Picking The Wrong Color For Your Ceiling?

There is a substantial range of possibilities when it comes to painting your ceiling. Decorators are looking at the ceiling as a new place to bring in color. If you never considered a color for the ceilings, you may be missing an opportunity to add drama to a room. Here is a list of the best advice around the net.

Colorful ceilings aren’t new, points out Nan Kornfeld, an architectural color specialist in San Francisco. “In Victorian homes, ceilings often varied from room to room,” she says. Back then, colorful ceilings played off the saturated patterns on oriental carpets and ornate wood furniture”.

Benjamin Moore’s Ceiling Paint Advice

Benjamin Moore suggests picking warmer shades for rooms with high ceilings. Often times these rooms can feel unbalanced when furnishings occupy the bottom half of a room, leaving the top bare. In these cases, experiment with a color for the ceiling in a deeper shade.

Benjamin Moore also suggests that glazes, metallic paint and pearlescent effects can soften up a room. Specialty plasters can also bring in the old world elements seen in European homes. Plaster finishes can add texture, color and dimension. A small room or room with a low ceiling can feel so muc larger by adding a slight color contrast between the walls and ceiling.

Benjamin Moore says that choosing ceiling colors in a flat sheen is your best choice. Benjamin Moore Waterborne Ceiling Paint has been specially formulated for an ultra-flat finish. It absorbs light, and has the lowest reflective quality of any ceiling paint on the market, so it hides imperfections and prevents light from bouncing off in distracting directions.

Better Homes And Gardens Magazine’s Ceiling Advice

BHG’s explain as a general rule in decorating ceilings that are lighter than the walls feel higher, while darker ceilings tend to do the opposite- feel lower. “Lower” isn’t necessarily wrong or bad. In fact, lowered ceilings can evoke a cozy atmosphere.

Vaulted or cathedral ceilings? Add a little visual trickery: Add a chair rail around the wall at about hip height; then paint the area below the chair rail a darker hue than the area above.

BHG’s suggests before you consider paint colors, factor in how much natural light comes into the room. Bright daylight bouncing off a blush pink or sky blue ceiling can creates an airy feeling. Lamplight reflecting on darker hues such as red at night can produce a rich glow. Some of the best ceiling colors are, sky blue, pale peach, butter yellow, blush pink, and warm tan.

BHG’s suggests that eggshell or satin finish paint can give a slight hint of reflective sheen. They also say to give a lot of thought before considering higher-sheen paints on the ceiling. High Sheen paints look amazing on new dry wall, but can call attention to surface flaws on older walls. BHG’s adds that color on the ceiling can bring character to a room, but simple ceiling colors have the added benefit that they will not date with your ever changing style through the years.

Sara Costello

J Taylor Designs

One popular trend is to paint the walls and the ceiling the same color. This approach can make the space feel smaller or more enclosed. If the look appeals to you, focus attention on the furnishings and accessories that fill it. If you’d like to repeat the wall color on your ceiling, but want the ceiling to have a lighter look, simply dilute the wall paint with white. The resulting diluted color will still blend nicely with the wall color, while breaking up the over all color.

– “I never paint a ceiling dead white because all white paint has a bit of gray in it, and it takes the room down. Paint the ceiling a cream shade.” –Athalie Derse

-“You never want to match your walls to a color in one of your fabrics. It will be too strong. Find a grayed-out version of the color.” –Sallie

-“One of the biggest mistakes people make with neutrals is not using enough contrast. A room of creams and beiges needs something stark and shiny white. And something black. You have to interject elements that add intense personality. Make it gutsy, or else it’s boring.” –Betsy Brown

-“When any color scheme is taken too seriously, it loses its power. You need to know when to pull back. A two-color scheme can be great, but there has to be some relief, or it comes across as too pat and makes everything seem stiff.” –Tom Scheerer

The first, is one that I have done myself several times. Buying paint without any consideration to how the color looks on the walls first. We all have been overly excited about painting a room, and decide to buy paint, and then put it up on the walls that very same day or weekend.

‘”Do not go shopping for paint intending to bring home paint that day,” says Christopher Lowell, the Emmy-winning lifestyle expert and author of “Seven Layers of Design.” Instead, he says “grab swatches — as many as you like.” Put them in a high-traffic area of your house, and see which ones you gravitate toward, he says. When looking at paint swatches, factor in that colors will look darker on the wall. They say that the glossier the paint, the lighter it will look on the walls.

Painting the ceiling is one topic that even experts disagree on. For ceilings with color, consider going a few shades lighter than your wall paint, as ceilings tend to look darker. Many designers prefer a white ceilings. If you go this route, consider a white that isn’t stark, such as an off white.

“If you paint the walls a rich color and leave the ceiling white, it will do the opposite of what you want” by calling attention to it, says Christopher Lowell. Instead, he prefers a variation on the wall color. If your ceilings are above nine feet, go one shade darker than the wall color, he says. That will bring the ceiling “down” and make the room appear cozier. If the ceilings are nine feet or less, use a color a shade or two lighter than the walls.

Darker shades often give a “chalky” appearance in a matte finish, so opt for eggshell, which has just enough gloss in it to give a professional matte appearance. Flat paint hides imperfections in a wall the best, while glossier versions can highlight them. Glossy paint on the walls if not done right can look amateur, so consider eggshell paint unless your walls are flawless.

Christopher Lowell, also spills his designer secret when it comes to making color selections. Take a swatch that you like with seven versions of the same color. Eliminate the darker color, which can be used for accessories in the room, and focus on the two shades that fall beneath the darkest color. Those colors tend to be great wall colors. Try the two shades which are lighter for the ceiling. Then use the lightest shade on the card for your trim. If you want to join two rooms together, consider using the same trim color, but switch the wall and ceiling colors, he says. Brilliant!!

Additional Advice From Message Boards

Here’s a general rule in applying color to ceilings, from a DIY sites:

“If your room has ceilings that are 8′ high or under, paint the ceiling a shade or two lighter than the color of your walls.

If your ceilings are higher than 8′, paint them a shade or two darker than your wall color.

Then finish the room with crown molding painted the same color as your walls, but in a glossier sheen.”

Poster Board Room Swatches?

A “word to the wise” to using poster boards for swatches, A Comment From The Southern Living Message Board.

“Poster board does not take paint, the same way that sheet rock does. The color will not be exactly the same.

I learned this the hard way, when we built our house. I had gleaned the suggestion of painting poster boards, to use as large color swatches, from several magazines. I painted a dozens of poster boards. I was so frustrated. I kept returning to the paint store. Eventually, the paint store owner kindly pointed out the problem. At first, I was skeptical, because I had heard this tip, so many times. I experimented with the poster board placement (where I tacked it up), in the rooms. And with the times of day (thinking it was just the light). And with natural light, versus electrically provided. I experimented with the number of coats applied to the poster board. I tried using primer.

Eventually, I did take his advice. When I compared them to my painted poster boards (& compared them all, later, to the actual painted walls), he was so right. Scrap pieces of sheetrock worked much better, as far as providing me with an accurate color swatch.

Additional Links

– Candice Olson on How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Ceiling- Youtube

-The Real Trick On How To Paint A Straight Ceiling Line Using A 4 inch Brush- Youtube

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